"I idolized Bernard King growing up. If you grew up in that era and you didn’t idolize Bernard King, I don’t know what you were watching." – Coach Fizdale pic.twitter.com/zJHvq0LXjA
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 7, 2018
New York Knicks legend Bernard King is the most recent former Knick to address the team and he did so while rocking his own jersey.
Bernard King is a name synonymous with the New York Knicks. He doesn’t need to wear his own jersey for people to recognize him, but he did so on Wednesday all the same. Usually, Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier is the Madison Square Garden legend that has fans talking fashion. Wardrobe aside, King adds his name to a growing list of ex-Knicks head coach David Fizdale is bringing around the team.
Fizdale seems to be embracing the lore and mystique of Madison Square Garden more than any Knicks coach has done in some time. Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, Rasheed Wallace, and Bill Bradley are a few of the notable former Knicks to address the youthful outfit.
King was one of the most prolific scorers during his era and Fizdale is hoping King can impart some of his wisdom on rookie Kevin Knox, a player the Knicks hope can develop into a legitimate scorer in the league.
“No one can talk about scoring and preparing and having a game built for certain areas of the floor better than Bernard King,” Fizdale said to Chris Iseman of NorthJersey.com. “And he’s ours so I’m going to use him the best I can. You can see they’re over there talking now as we speak. I just think he’s going to be a great influence on Kevin.”
It’s excellent to see Fizdale facilitating relationships with past Knicks greats. First, it was Mitchell Robinson with Rasheed Wallace and now it’s Knox with King. It’s always an exciting thing for fans to see the past connect with the future. It sounds like Knox is absorbing King’s message and trying to learn from the NBA legend.
“He told me about certain spots on the floor that I like and said just get there, keep shooting, keep playing hard and eventually it will come.”
Throughout his young tenure, it seems as though David Fizdale can do no wrong. The team is struggling to close out games, but the franchise appears to be trending in the right direction. Fizdale’s deference to history appears to be another example of this upward trend.
